A change of plans today .......

After spending far too long looking, I came to the conclusion that the advice I'd read about the Cote d' Zure appeared to be correct.

There is parking of course in Cannes and Nice but all the reviews say just don't bother, there are far too many obstacles to make it worthwhile trying in a motorhome.

Lots of height barriers, congested narrow streets, grumpy gendarme, astronomical parking charges and a general feeling they'd rather welcome chavs in Ferrari's than motorhomes.

The best way to see the area in a motorhome is to carry a scooter with you, park on a campsite above the town in the hills and scooter in.

So a change of plans was called for.

I decided to head east into Italy and we've arrived at a little town called Susa.

It's an old Roman town and there is a amphitheater I'm going to investigate this evening.

The town is nothing special really, but it has a few remaining glimpses into it's historical Roman past and it's quite pleasant to have a wander around.

I made a mistake today of setting the sat nav to include toll roads.

We got stung with a tunnel toll ☹️

Generally speaking, Italian toll roads are usually worth paying for as the alternative routes can be pretty appalling on the pothole front. 

But I made the mistake of not spotting this one was a tunnel route so we got there and had no alternative but to cough up.

The Tunnel du Frejus was my mistake, about 62 euro.

What I should have done was to turn off the motorway for the Col du Mont Cenis where there is a nice aire by the Lac.

Nevermind, lesson learned.

It's warm and sunny, we have a tv signal to watch HM's journey from Edinburgh to London and Ed's air conditioning is keeping Sue cool while I have a beer outside, so all is well with the world.

We had pizza for tea, what else could we choose when in Italy ?

I might make a carbonara tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm off the investigate the Roman amphitheater now.

Well I found the amphitheater, it's not on to the scale of the Greek theatre in Taormina Sicily we were fortunate enough to visit a few years ago, but it was worth the effort of climbing the hill to it.

Tomorrow we head further east across northern Italy, to what is reputed to be one of the prettiest villages in Italy.

I've just realised I've missed the Roman Arch of Augustus, just around the corner from the amphitheatre, so thats my mission for tomorrow before we leave Susa

In the meantime, some photos of Susa

A restored Roman fresco

Door of the day

 The Roman Amphitheatre

A day of alpine scenery

We had a fantastic journey south from our Metabief parkup through alpine forests, valleys and plains, bypassing Geneva.

These roads seem to be the low alpine roads, the foothills of the true alpine roads, so no severe climbs, decents or hairpin bends but lots of the alpine scenery I love so much.

It was only 90 miles or so but took a while as all the little villages have a speed hump on entry and exit.

Take those humps in a motorhome at anything above a snails pace, and be prepared for all your crockery and cutlery to go airbourne and sound like the worst kind of accident when they crashland.

There was just one hump I didn't spot as the triangle's hadn't been painted back on following resurfacing, so we had just the one crash bang wollop moment.

Thankfully, no breakages so far.

So after a really enjoyable drive we arrived in Lac d' Annecy.

It's a really beautiful lake, but a real tourist honey pot.

I'd identified a free motorhome aire close to town, but some of the reviews mentioned motorhome leeches arriving and parking up for weeks on end, much to the annoyance of genuine motorhome travellers who just want secure parking to visit for a night or two.

Sure enough, when we arrived, there were what seemed to be long termers occupying all the places, just because they could and they're free - grrrr

No problem, we moved onto the local campsite, Camping Belverdere, nearby and managed to get the last remaining pitch for tonight.

After lunch we walked down into the old town and had a wander round the quaint cobbled streets.

As I mentioned earlier it is a proper tourist honeypot.

We decided on a sit down and have a cold drink in one of the pavement bars. 

Nobody paid much attention to us, eventually I caught the waiters eye and got a menu to choose drinks. 

After about 15 minutes, we were no nearer to ordering but our feet were rested and we debated just leaving. 

Having seen the bar prices it didn't take much to prompt our early exit without ordering.

8 euro for a 33cl beer ? 

5.5 euro for a coke ?

We left, 'nuf said !

We then needed a taxi back up the hill to the campsite as Sue wouldn't have made it walking, most towns are over-run with taxi's, not Annecy.

It needed a visit to the tourist information office who directed us to the railway station before we found a cabbie who gave a Gaelic shrug and a grung and we were off up the hill to our campsite.

So it's been a great day and Annecy was one of the places on my list, so I'm pleased to have ticked it off.

I'm looking forward to more spectacular scenery tomorrow as we venture further south towards the Cote d' Zure and Nice.

Some views of Lac d' Annecy and the old town

I love the turquoise waters of the lake which I think is as a result
of melted snow and ice waters from the mountains.
It seems to stay crystal clear 

We're the blue blob

We found the sun 🌞

 

We had thump thump thump from the Mirecourt funfair until 1130 and after that silence. . . . . all the teenagers went home with their ears ringing no doubt.

We left Mirecourt with overcast skies, but they soon cleared and we've had sunshine all day which is welcome after the rain days so far.

We headed due south and have arrived at a small village close to the Swiss border called Métabief

It's quite high at about 1000m and is a popular ski resort in winter.

We're parked up at another camping car park (CCP) so about 10 euro we have a great parkup and all services included, not to mention the fantastic views.

Behind the aire is an adventure park, a little like GoApe, zip wires, rope bridges and various assault courses to keep the kids entertained.

Opposite us are some cows with their bells gently chinking, so that's our sound track for the evening, perfect.

Certainly much more acceptable than last night's sound track.

We had a Swiss Helicopter land next to us !

French Go ape

Chink chink of the cow bells

This evenings sunset